Means for operating garment slide fastener

ABSTRACT

A nose-like element is provided with an orifice in its tip to receive and hold a slide fastener or zipper tab. When this element is disposed substantially perpendicularly to the back of a woman desiring to zip or unzip her dress or other garment, and, with the zipper tab so inserted in its orifice, is moved in that disposition along the interlocking elements of the slide fastener, the desired zipping or unzipping of the garment is conveniently accomplished. In the embodiment herein disclosed movement of the element is accomplished by a adjustably mounting the element with a slight cant on the end of an elongated member to be held in one&#39;&#39;s hand and operated in the manner of a &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;back scratcher&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;.

United States Patent Thomas Sept. 23, 1975 [5 MEANS FOR OPERATINGGARMENT 3,249,977 5/1966 Cloud 24/205.15 H SLIDE FASTENER 3,348,869lO/l967 Zern 24/205.l5 H

Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 325.023, Jan. 19,1973, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 165,994, July 26, 197l, abandoned.

[52] us. Cl. 223/111 [51] lm. cl. A47J 51/06 [58] Field of Search223/111; 294/1 A; 24/205.15 H

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,838,831 6/1958 Aubuchon.294/1 A 2,887,751 5/1959 Lamb 24/205.15 H 2,898,141 8/1959 Perryn....294/1 A 2,900,205 8/1959 Cirone 294/1 A Primary ExaminerGeorge H.Krizmanich Attorney, Agent, or FirmWilliam H. Pavitt, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT A nose-like element is provided with an orifice in its tipto receive and hold a slide fastener or zipper tab. When this element isdisposed substantially perpendicularly to the back of a woman desiringto zip or unzip her dress or other garment, and, with the zipper tab soinserted in its orifice, is moved in that disposition along theinterlocking elements of the slide fastener, the desired zipping orunzipping of the garment is conveniently accomplished. In the embodimentherein disclosed movement of the element is accomplished by a adjustablymounting the element with a slight cant on the end of an elongatedmember to be held in ones hand and operated in the manner of a backscratcher.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures MEANS FOR OPERATING GARMENT SLIDE FASTENERNO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a division of applicationSer. No. 325,023, filed by the applicant Jan. 19, 1973 which, itself,was a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 165,994 filed July26, 1971 which has been abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Inventor Patent No. Issue Date R. S. Vahan2,604,242 July 22, 1952 H. L. Robertson, et all 3,199,753 Aug. 10, 1965Lewis F. McNitt 3,568,901 Mar. 9, 1971 While each of the mechanisms ofthese several prior art patents does provide for a vertical movement ofa zipper tab through a wall-mounted pulley arrangement, none of themechanisms appears thus-far to have received wide-spread consumeracceptance. This lack of consumer acceptance may possibly be becauseeach prior art mechanism appears to be somewhat complicated in installand maintain; further, because of its complexity, each would appear tobe costly to produce and, hence, would have to be sold at a fairly highprice; also, because each mechanism requires the women to locate behindher both the book of the mechanism and the zipper tab, and insert theformer in the latter; and lastly, the inclusion in each prior artmechanism of a hook could produce undesirable catching in the dressfabric or the users skin. Thus, although the basic idea of the expiredVahan patent, namely, providing a wall mounted device for gripping azipper tab behind a woman and enabling her, by pulling a flexibleelement, the end of which is conveniently located in front of her, tocause the thus-gripped zipper tab to be moved up or down as desired, isa good one, the prior art devices which have been devised to carry outthis basic idea have apparently been unsatisfactory.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention obviates the problemsinherent in the prior art mechanisms by providing a nose-like elementwhich is orificed to receive and grip the zipper tab. If desired, hookmeans could be employed in conjunction with, or as a substitute for, thenose.

The orificed nose may be adjustably cantedly mounted on the end of anelongated member having a handle, and said nose with the zipper movedvertically by reaching over ones shoulder with this member.

It may be seen, thus, that the present invention eliminates the hook ofthe prior art mechanisms and greatly simplifies the drawing arrangementwith consequence ease of use and substantial reduction in the cost ofmanufacture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the embodiment of theinvention illustrated in the drawings, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, amember 39, is attached slightly rotatably in a seating cavity 86provided in one end 88 of an elongated element 90, the other end 92 ofwhich is formed as a handle. In this embodiment, the member 39, isformed of a base 94 and a tapered blunt nose-like projection 96, in theend of which is provided a horizontal flat recess 98 to receive the tabof a zipper. In this embodiment of the invention, the user holds thehandle over or under her shoulder and brings the end 88 to the zippertab level. With her other hand she inserts the tabe into the slot 98 andthen raises the element by the handle 92 to pull up the zipper tab soinserted in the slot 98 in the noselike projection 96. In order toenable the member 39' to be disposed in substantially normal alignmentwith the users back despite the angle at which the element 90 will beheld over ones shoulder, whether by a left-handed or right-handedperson, there is provided in the end 88 a double rectangular seatingcavity 86 with each rectangle 86a, 8612 being disposed at about a 35angular rotation from the other. The base 94 of the member 39' isrotatably secured in the cavity 86 by a pin 100 so that the base may berotated about the pin axis to seat in either the rectangle 86a or 86 b,and would be so disposed, depending upon whether the user employs thedevice with her right hand over her left or right shoulder, or left handover her left or right shoulder.

It will be appreciated that the present invention may thus be easily andinexpensively constructed. It is simple to operate and by use of theblunt nose into which the zipper tab is inserted, avoids the possibilityof tearing the dress fabric or scratching the users skin.

I claim:

1. Means for operating a slide fastener located on the back of a womansgarment when said garment is worn by a woman, said means comprising:

A. An elongated noselike element, said element having a base at one endand at its other end a smooth, blunt tip, said tip being orificedsubstantially axially of said element to receive and hold a zipperpulltab against removal from said orifice by a force applied in anyother direction than one in the axis of the orifice; and

B. An elongated handle, said handle being attached at one of its ends tothe base of said element substantially perpendicularly thereto, andextending for a sufficient distance to enable the other end of thehandle to be conveniently grasped by the hand of the woman user when theelement is disposed substantially perpendicular to, and in the small ofthe woman users back, whereby the slide fastener may be closed upwardlyby raising the grapsed end of the handle up from the women usersshoulder.

2. The means for operating a slide fastener as described in claim 1,wherein the base of the element is partially rotatably secured in theone end of the handle to permit use by either a left-handed orright-handed woman user.

1. Means for operating a slide fastener located on the back of awoman''s garment when said garment is worn by a woman, said meanscomprising: A. An elongated noselike element, said element having a baseat one end and at its other end a smooth, blunt tip, said tip beingorificed substantially axially of said element to receive and hold azipper pull-tab against removal from said orifice by a force applied inany other direction than one in the axis of the orifice; and B. Anelongated handle, said handle being attached at one of its ends to thebase of said element substantially perpendicularly thereto, andextending for a sufficient distance to enable the other end of thehandle to be conveniently grasped by the hand of the woman user when theelement is disposed substantially perpendicular to, and in the small ofthe woman user''s back, whereby the slide fastener may be closedupwardly by raising the grapsed end of the handle up from the womenuser''s shoulder.
 2. The means for operating a slide fastener asdescribed in claim 1, wherein the base of the element is partiallyrotatably secured in the one end of the handle to permit use by either aleft-handed or right-handed woman user.